Tag Archives:activities with kids

For the fifth year in a row, my friend and I took our daughters (who are now 8 years old) to The Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Zoe’s Lounge in Ottawa for tea. It’s been a summer tradition since the girls were preparing to enter their first year of school (in Junior Kindergarten) and a tradition that we all fell in love with.

What makes this tradition even more sweet is that my friend and I have known each other for 30 years. And now that we have kids (and daughters the same age,) watching them grow – with so many similarities and differences from ourselves – is special.

This year my daughter asked if my friend and I planned on continuing this tradition when she was a teenager, or even when she was 50! I couldn’t help but laugh, and told her that I don’t see it ending anytime soon.

If you are thinking about taking kids to tea at Chateau Laurier, I highly recommend it. They have a tea menu just for the kids (which includes the choice of hot chocolate or tea) and we have always felt welcomed there for this special experience.

The last time we went to Parc Omega we had a blast. You can read about our adventures and tips here. It was so much fun not only getting to feed carrots to the animals in an up close and personal way, but to learn about the different habitats, species and diverse area that Parc Omega hosts. It was wonderful to see the passion and care that they put into everything they do and the animals who live there.

When they invited us back to check out their maple sugar shack, it was an easy decision for all of us to return. Not only did we realize that this was a great way to spend some time outdoors as the snow was still on the ground (and we were sulking about it), but also, I am always ready for some maple taffy.

This time of year is when the maple sap is flowing and maple syrup producers are busy. The sugar shack at Parc Omega is unique in that it’s a smaller production and uses old-school techniques. Sap is collected by hand with buckets on the trees, and boiled in a wooden shack. It reminded me of when my grandfather would collect sap and boil it outside in a giant pot. That syrup always had a bit more smokiness to the flavour, it was often darker and delicious in a different way than what we can get at the store. The syrup at Parc Omega was like my childhood.

We were treated to maple taffy (a huge hit with my family, always) and we tucked into the tabled cabin with a wood burning fire place to warm up while we ate. The Sugar Shack area is a central hub for the walking, cross country skiing and snowshoeing trails making it the perfect mini stop if you are out and about.

Naturally, while the maple syrup area was a highlight for me, getting to see the animals was a huge attraction for the kids. I can’t tell you how many times each of them told us they were having a great time. We saw a black bear who was recently out of hibernation, and learned about the elks and deer losing their antlers and growing them back at this time of year. We saw baby boars (which were adorable!) and learned about the timber wolves during a feeding presentation.

We also got a peek at their new lumber camp which has tables for eating, a place to warm up and a food counter. This is an area that is expanding in the upcoming months and by summertime it sounds like it’s going to be another exciting area to check out, grab a bite and relax in between all of the excitement. Stop by the lumber camp if you want to rent snow shoes and head to the sugar shack!

The sugar shack will be open until April 2, unless the snow sticks around, then they may extend the opening. Even as the weather warms up, you’ll find plenty to do at Parc Omega. Visit the animals, grab a bite to eat (there is a new menu that currently includes a lot of tasty bites!) and attend educational demonstrations and shows to learn more about the animals around.

Don’t forget! Bring plenty of carrots or grab some bags at the main lodge of Parc Omega! The animals (and your kids) will thank you!

Start a new family holiday tradition by heading to a live show!

With performances at 3:30 and 6:30 pm on Thursday night, your entire family can delight at this performance. Max and Ruby were often on TV when my kids were younger and as parents I think we all have had a laugh at their antics with a bit of tongue firmly planted in cheek at times (where were their parents?!)

But the duo continue to be childhood favourites and a holiday performance on stage could be the start of a new tradition for your family! I love taking the kids to live shows, and this time of year it’s nice to get out and spend that time together, especially since we are all so busy.

I love the Nutcracker music, and the dancing of course will be lovely. Tied to the characters of Max and Ruby, this is such a sweet way to introduce your children to a classic holiday performance that is kid-friendly for them.

Show up early to the performance to participate in the Nepean Visual Arts Centre craft activity as well.

As with previous activities like making a comic strip using giant paper on our table, my kids (especially my son) continue to show a keen interest in writing, book development and so on.

Recently, as part of a public speaking endeavour for his class, he chose to write his own story to recite.. What we decided to do was make a book out of it, so he could easily craft the plot and see if visually.

I printed off these exact sheets that I’m sharing with you. There are a couple of choices: Either keep them grouped into 4 and staple them when complete or cut each square out, leaving a bit of a border at the side, making a book rather than comic book style. We did a book style.

Also note, while I do have my website marked at the bottom, I put it very close to the bottom so you can trim it off if you like 😉

No matter what format you decide to take, let creativity flow and have fun! Print out as many as you need!

At the family reunion (my husband’s family) we were at on the weekend, one of the dad’s brought materials for the kids to build some cool things. They made a bird house and this paddle boat.

Today, the kids got a chance to test out the boats in the tub. I can say they move well!

What was most impressive was that they built the boats themselves (with assistance of course) but seeing them work with the hammer, figuring out where the pieces go and then the pride on their faces when they were done was priceless.

When my children reached the age where they could finally start to play board games, it was a wonderful new activity that we could do together. But some games are simply too complicated for the toddler/preschool set.

Fortunately, we have 3 family favourites that my toddler can play but also my school-aged son is still interested in playing (this is essential for those afternoons when I am trying to make everyone happy!)

What are these three board games that have been well played, well loved and don’t drive mama crazy?

1) Memory

It’s a classic. This Toopy and Binoo version is well used and fun. But the game can be played with a deck of cards or a fun activity is to make your own cards with your favourite characters, upper/lower case letters and so on!

2) Hungry Hungry Hippos

Another classic that we all played as kids I’m sure. Now the ‘marbles’ are plastic, but the game play remains the same. Simple for little hands to get used to, and exciting enough for our mini competitors to get into the spirit of wanting to chomp chomp chomp!

Extend the game (and learning opportunity) by taking turns counting how many balls everyone got.

3) Cariboo Island

This is a branch of the popular Cranium game, but geared to the younger set. There are two sets of cards, one for younger children, the other for older, which makes this game great for growing with the kids. Select a card, then with the key open a box that fits the requirement (by colour, shape, letter etc) and search for coins. Collect 6 coins to open the treasure chest!

ETA: Honourable Mention: Candyland.

How did Candyland become the game parents have grown to not love but the kids do? Especially those of us with special versions like Dora? This gets an honourable mention because we don’t own this game, but Grandma does, and it’s well loved and used each time we visit 😉

A really fun game for all of us.

What are some of your favourite board games for younger children? Do you like playing board games? Honestly, I can’t wait for the kids to get old enough for games like Scrabble, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit!

My son is really into science lately – at age 5 he’s not trying to take apart DNA samples, but he’s really interested in doing easy and fun hands-on experiments and anything that requires eye droppers etc. is a plus.

One day I set up different bowls with coloured water and gave him a dropper and empty bowl to mix the colours and see what they make when combined. He loved it so much!

I gave him a card to record his experiment results on and had him guess what colours he thought would be created when combining 2 of the primary colours.

It was fun and interactive and I can see that I’ll be doing more of these activities in the future!

1- Using water and food colouring, set up small bowls with red, blue and yellow colours.

2-Give your child an empty bowl and an eye dropper (I often save the droppers from medicine bottles).

3-Use a cue card or paper to draw empty squares for your child to colour in as s/he goes along.

4-Talk about the experiment. What colour do you think blue and red make? Is the hypothesis correct?

I’ll write up the other decorations we did for my son’s Super Mario themed birthday party, but here’s an easy craft that you can do for your Mario loving gang, or simply paint it a different colour to make an earth or planet or soccer ball.

We didn’t hang it like a piñata, although we could have. I still put candy in it, but instead, we hid the egg on our main floor, called it a ‘level’ and had the kids (and, I will say, some eager aunts and uncles) look for the egg. It was a hilarious pursuit that my son said was one of the best things he did at his party.

Here’s how to make your own Yoshi egg to hide on your Super Mario level 😉

2- Mix together water and flour, until it’s a pasty/glue-like consistency.

3- Dip the strips into the flour mixture and put it over the balloon. Have the kids use paintbrushes to help cover the balloon too if you like. Repeat until the entire balloon is covered in a couple layers of paste and paper strips. Leave a small opening at the tip of the balloon where the knot is.

4-For the final layer, coat with paper towel.

5-Attach string to the knot of the balloon and hang to dry overnight.

6- When dry (likely the next day), pop the balloon and remove it’s parts. Fill your egg with whatever you like (stickers, candy, something light). Using a small amount of paper towel and flour paste, cover the hole with strips. Set aside for the top to dry overnight.

7-The next day, paint the egg white. Let dry.

8-Likely the next day (or when the white paint is dry), add the green dots on the egg. Let dry.

Have fun!

(special thanks to Vivian from Blend Creations who gave me the idea to do this!!)

Welcome to A Little Bit of Momsense! My name is Rebecca and I'm chatting about parenting, family friendly activities, yummy recipes, family travel, and living a life full of love and laughter. Thanks for stopping by!